


White String

by Ixaz



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Am I sorry for the tears this will make everyone shed? no., Character Death, Denial of Feelings, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Iwaizumi is softie of the century, Kiyoko/Yachi is brief/implied, Lovers to Friends, Multi, No Volleyball Team - Alternate Universe, Not beta read - we die like men, One-Sided Attraction, Pining, Rejection, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF, So Many Stereotypes, Soulmates, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-18 03:52:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18241820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ixaz/pseuds/Ixaz
Summary: Everyone has a soulmate, indicated once they reach an age of full maturity by the thin string bracelets everyone is gifted at birth. When you've reached maturity, the string fades to a dull gray. Upon meeting your soulmate, your bracelet will flash and change from it's stark white to a color that matches your soulmate's.-When Oikawa makes a quick run to his local 24-hour convenience store, he most definitely does not expect to find his soulmate.He'd like to think that the man hadn't expected so either.





	White String

**Author's Note:**

> Note for Overall Fic:  
> All Characters are over 18. First years would be around 19-20, Second years would be around 20-21, and Third years would be around 21-22.  
> This is also likely to be Canon Divergent, and I may include my own Original characters (highly unlikely) if I need to.  
> The main ships will probably be IwaOi, BokuAka, KuroTsukki, Kagehina, and some others.  
> Note for this Chapter:  
> This chapter is a lot shorter than I'd like, but it is an introduction to some of the main characters/relationships, albeit some of the introductions may be very brief.
> 
> Check out my twitter!  
> @bitchsuke

_God_ , was he tired. Pulling an all-nighter to study probably wasn't one of his brightest ideas, but this was Oikawa's grade on the line, and he didn't have anywhere near enough money to pay for another semester's tuition. It was either try and save himself now, or fall into a pit of student loans that he'd never be able to pay off.

Oikawa sat up, stretching his arms up above his head with a satisfied groan. As his arms dropped back down into his lap, his phone screen lit up, blinding him. The clock read  _01:04_ ; subconsciously, an indignant noise bubbled out of his throat. "This is so-" he began to himself, "-so not worth it." His eyes drooped shut from exhaustion, yet he still had so much more work left - notes, another two packets, and an essay.

Yeah, he  _definitely_ regret trying to cram the night before.

Why had he even procrastinated to begin with? What had he been trying to accomplish with pushing everything back until literally the  _last_ second? Distantly, Oikawa could hear the rustling that was the sound of his cat worming her way under some furniture, and weighed his options - he could keep going and hope he didn't "accidentally" fall asleep and drool all over his keyboard, or he could just give up, go to bed, and hope for the best in the morning. That'd be something for future him to worry about.

Deciding that it'd be a fool's move to turn back now, Oikawa leaned forward in his chair once more and set his slender fingers down against the keyboard. He'd get the essay out of the way first, sense it was the most difficult - a seven page essay on something he was pretty sure he didn't recall learning, and it was due tomorrow for his first class of the day. Oikawa tiredly rubbed at his eyes as he began typing, hands moving slowly across the keys. He could vaguely see his blurry reflection in his computer's dirty screen, unable to see too far without his glasses. 

He kept writing, for what felt like hours - _could_ have been hours - until he'd really started to get tired of writing about quite possibly the most boring topic ever. He'd gotten up to only five pages before he decided he'd give up and turn it in as is. Some points were better than none, right? 

Oikawa saved the document and moved onto the next assignment - simple, nothing but notes on two chapters from the book. As he pulled his book free from the confines of his bag that he'd haphazardly shoved under his desk, his cat hopped onto the desk's surface, meowing entirely too loud for Oikawa's liking. The tiny Siamese cat staring into his eyes, practically begging for attention. "Not now, Alice, I have work to do-" before he could finish, Alice meowed again, nudging her face against the corner of his computer screen and purring. "Alice, I-" The cat cut him off again. 

He had to resist the urge not to yell at the feline, though he probably wouldn't have had the energy for an outburst anyways. Alice sat down next to the computer, watching Oikawa closely. The cat didn't make a move, even as Oikawa made to continue typing his notes. 

She stayed there, tail swaying subtly back and forth, as he finished, saving the document and preparing to move onto the next. 

From beside his computer, his phone buzzed to life once more, the bright flash of light forcing Oikawa to squint against it. A notification for a text from one of his classmates catching his eye.

_Do you have the rubric for that essay, Oikawa?_

He opened the message, picking up his phone sluggishly, and texted his reply.  _Sure,  I can email it to you in a sec. I can see I'm not the only one cramming for tomorrow._

The text sent, and it took a few minutes before his classmate's reply came through.  _Yeah, can't afford none of this anymore, I fail and it's over._

Unable to think of a response, Oikawa closed out his text messages and pulled down the notification center to check the time - _0_ _3:27._

With a sigh, Oikawa pushed himself out of his chair and picked up his phone, making his way to his door. As he toed on his shoes and threw on a jacket, he thought to himself that if he was going to stay up all night, he might as well go for it and pick up some energy drinks from the convenience store right down the street. Why not, right? Sure, the crash that'd hit him after all this would have him asleep in bed for at  _least_ 16 hours, but that's  _later_. He was living in the now, wasn't he?

Outside, even with the aid of streetlights and porch lights that his neighbors had carelessly left on, it was dark, and Oikawa had to squint to see farther than eight inches in front of his face. Not only was it  _incredibly_ dark, it was cold. The freezing wind bit at his exposed cheeks, drawing a deep red flush to them. Even with his jacket and thick pair of sweatpants, and his hands shoved deep into his coat pockets, he was freezing, shaking to his core from the absolute bitter cold. 

After one block, his eyes started to water, and before he could even finish the second block, his teeth began chattering, jaw quivering. Luckily, the store was only about two and a half blocks away, so before he began losing feeling in every one of his limbs, he'd reached the store.  _Thank God._

As he opened the door, the way too bright lights shone directly into his eyes, temporarily blinding him. He knew the store well enough that it didn't require 100% of his vision for him to find the coolers in the back where they kept their drinks. Once he'd finally regained his sight, he searched for the energy drinks, finding and swinging open the cooler door. 

Without hesitation, he grabbed four cans of the Monster and tucked them into his arms. He passed through the candy aisle, pausing to consider grabbing some, before he ducked down, snatched up two Hershey chocolate bars, and continued up towards the front counter. 

The cashier appeared exhausted too, with bags under his eyes and an annoyed expression on his face. He began ringing up all the stuff Oikawa had picked up, taking his time putting it all into a bag. 

As he waited Oikawa toyed with the string tied permanently around his right wrist. The thin string had a pure white all of his life, up until around the age of seventeen or eighteen, when it turned a gray and remained that way, indicating that he had yet to find his soulmate. 

Suddenly the cashier spoke, breaking Oikawa out of his daydreaming. "That all?" Without meaning to, his head snapped up harshly.

"Y-yeah, uhm, just a second let me grab my money-" Before he could finish, a shock shot straight through his right arm, heating up his whole body to the point he felt like he was going to melt. His wallet fell from his hands as jumped, turning to look around before his eyes caught on the man who'd just entered the store - barely wearing anything despite it being extremely cold outside. His t-shirt left his arms bare, the skin flushed red from the chill outside. Another shock shot up through his arm, and it was then he noticed the string on his hand change from gray to a light teal color. Oikawa has half the mind to glance down at his own wrist and find the string there the same color, and he swears he catches sight of a brief spark that flashes between them.

"Holy shit." They both found themselves saying in unison. "You're my fucking soulmate."

* * *

 

Every day was a reminder than they weren't  _real_. There were days that Kei couldn't look at his wrist without being brought to tears. 

They were in love right? Weren't they? Why . . . why hadn't it changed yet? One day, Tsukishima told himself, it'd change. May-Maybe there was something wrong. There had to be.

Yet no ounce of repetition halted his anxieties.

It was after months of his endless worrying that he realized that there wasn't any hope for him and Tetsurou. Eventually he worked up the courage to bring it up, which lead him here.

Kuroo was sitting on the couch in their shared apartment, Kei's head in his lap. He had to swallow down the lump in his throat just to take a breath, not prepared for what would come of this conversation. Maybe they'd end things . . . Things would surely be different afterwards. There'd be no going back.

As he ran his fingers gently through his hair, Kei took a deep breath and began to speak. "Kuroo."

"Last name? I thought you always called me Testurou-" but Tsukishima didn't let him finish.

Kuroo gave him a curios look, his hand halting in it's movement brushing through his boyfriend's hair. "Kuroo. We can't keep ignoring the elephant in the room-" Kuroo began to hold up a hand in an attempt to stop Tsukishima's speech, but he kept going. "You and I both know it's not going to happen. We're only setting ourselves up for more hurt here, Tetsu-" This time Kuroo did succeed in silencing him, sighing in exasperation.

"Kei, let us revel in this a bit longer, please, talking about this right now isn't something I want to do." Kei had the resist the urge to shout at him, sitting up roughly and looking into Kuroo's eyes. "Tsukishima," He says sternly, before Kei can get a single word out of his mouth. " _Please_. Give me time. This is something for later." He stopped considering the situation and his boyfriends words. If he pressed further it wouldn't end well, but if he let it go, he got the feeling it wasn't going to end any better. 

Tsukishima stood up, tugging at the hem of his shirt anxiously.  _It'd be better to end it here_. "Kuroo. It's definitely the right time. It isn't going to benefit either of us to keep pushing this away. We can't just keep- keep avoiding speaking about it. One of us has to say it!" Without meaning to, his voice increased in volume. "This isn't something we can shove under the rug and leave alone in hopes it'll leave us alone, Tetsurou! What don't you understand? We aren't soulmate, Kuroo! No amount of hope will ever change that! Have the sense to understand that this ignorance isn't always going to be bliss!"

His boyfriend stopped, looking straight ahead and refusing to make eye contact. He remained silent, like he was contemplating, thinking. Kei didn't wait up.

"I'm going to take a shower, and I'm sleeping on the couch tonight."

Kuroo finally stood then, making to interrupt him. "Kei-" Tsukishima didn't him a chance to respond before he walked down the hall and slammed the door shut, leaving Kuroo to revel in the mess he'd created.

* * *

Late night track practice was definitely the  _last_ thing Akaashi wanted to be attending, but he had no choice. Even if he was just vice captain he had to be there. If he ever missed, God knows what the captain or the coach would do.

The sound of his phone going off from over on the bench draws Akaashi over, until he's picking it up and reading the text message. He didn't need to read the contact name above the message to know who it was. Subconsciously, his eyes seemed to drift over to the string wrapped around his wrist, with it's odd, deep blue tint. He hadn't experienced meeting his soulmate officially, yet the string was still lightly colored - faded - but colored all the while.

_When's your practice over, 'Kaashi?_

Keiji had to resist the urge to smile at the text, typing up a quick reply before he shoved his phone into his bag and happily made his way back over with the rest of the track team.

 


End file.
